Stop Being Niggardly
And Nine Other Things Black People Need to Stop Doing
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
nig·gard·ly (adj.) [nig´erd-le]
1. stingy, miserly; not generous
2. begrudging about spending or granting
3. provided in a meanly limited supply
If you don’t know the definition of the word, you might assume it to be a derogatory insult, a racial slur. You might be personally offended and deeply outraged. You might write an angry editorial or organize a march. You might even find yourself making national headlines
In other words, you’d better know what the word means before you pour your energy into overreacting to it.
That’s the jumping-off point for this powerful directive from Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author Karen Hunter. It’s time for the black community to stop marching, quit complaining, roll up their collective sleeves, channel their anger constructively, and start fixing their own problems, she boldly asserts. And while her straight-talking, often politically incorrect narrative is electrifyingly fresh and utterly relevant to today’s hot-button issues surrounding race, Hunter harks back to the wisdom of a respected elder—Nannie Helen Burroughs, who was ahead of her time penning Twelve Things the Negro Must Do for Himself more than a century ago. Burroughs’s guidelines for successful living—from making education, employment, and home ownership one’s priorities to dressing appropriately to practicing faith in everyday life—teach empowerment through self-responsibility, disallowing excuses for one’s standing in life but rather galvanizing blacks to look to themselves for strength, motivation, support, and encouragement.
From our urban communities to small-town America, the issues Hunter is bold enough to tackle in Stop Being Niggardly affect us all. Refreshingly candid and challenging, certain to get people everywhere talking, this is the book that takes on race in a new—yet also historically revered and
simply stated—way that can change lives, both personally and collectively.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this tough love letter to my people, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Hunter proscribes 10 things for African-Americans including complaining, tearing down our heroes, devaluing yourself, disrespecting your money, being fat, and letting people destroy our images. Hunter's advice comes in as an item-by-item commentary upon Nannie Helen Burroughs's early 20th-century essay, Twelve Things the Negro Must Do. Though Burroughs (1879 1961), a distinguished educator and exponent of black pride, is patrician in tone ( The Negro Must Keep Himself and His Home Clean and Make the Surroundings in Which He Lives Comfortable and Attractive ), Hunter's breezy voice brings Burroughs's advice up-to-date and down-to-earth. She sprinkles her jeremiad with accounts of her own experiences; whether finding God, making money, losing weight, learning from failure, or valuing success, the anecdotal personal content softens the edge of the preachy elements. Hunter is not making a play on the N-word, but is instead offering a heartfelt and inspiring call for black people to stop being stingy with their resources and their assessments of themselves, their health, political and economic power, and strength in community.
Customer Reviews
Truth!!
A must read for blacks. I love how Karen's goal is to empower...we need a sequel please!!!
Aggressive.. As Well As Telling
I understand that one must be completely honest with one self. Expect nothing from no one- too include yourself.
What kind of person writes this!!!!!
I'd give it a zero. This person is ignorant and racist. Said all. Didn't even read the book.